Containers or packages for consumer foodstuffs must serve two, sometimes conflicting, purposes: storage and display of the product in the store shelves, and dispensing of the foodstuff at the home where people will use it. A tall and narrow container or package makes a more visible display than a short, broad, one and it also makes more efficient use of the storage space, since the upper area of the shelf might otherwise have gone unutilized. This applies at home as well as in the store, not only on closet shelves but in refrigerators, with particular reference to refrigerator door space. Tall, narrow containers, however, present a particular problem for dispensing spoonable foodstuffs in particulate form, such as powdered instant coffee and other beverages, creamer, etc., which the consumer will dispense with a teaspoon. Successful dispensing often requires expert manipulation of the spoon to get it half-full, even, heaping, etc., and becomes awkward or impossible if a narrow container has too much depth.
Tall containers, efficient for storage, and for making economical purchases, also have the disadvantage of changing the flavor of their contents by long exposures to large volumes of moisture-laden air trapped in half-empty packages.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,645,375, to Topfer describes a sectionalized lipstick container in which the containing elements thread onto each other and one discards them as the lipstick shortens. But there exist no means exclusively for making connection and the contents make contact with each of the elements in the combined container. U.S. Pat. No. 4,444,324, to Grenell describes an insulated two-part container joined by mean of an internal cylinder threaded on its outer surface, so that it, too, has contact with the container contents. We know that flavor-sensitive foods, such as coffee, often use glass containers to maintain a preferred taste, or because customers so believe.